U.S. Pat. No. 3,713,599 (Canadian Pat. No. 935,417) describes in detail a coil winding machine provided with spindles upon which bobbins are mounted to which wire is fed, in a direction perpendicular to the axis of the spindle, by wire guides which are laterally movable in a plane parallel to the axis of rotation of the spindles and bobbins. With such prior art apparatus the wire can be wrapped around a terminal projecting from the bobbin in a direction perpendicular to the bobbin axis by moving the wire guide to a position adjacent the terminal and then orbiting the wire guide about the terminal. The wire can be wound into a coil upon the bobbin by moving the wire guide along the appropriate portion of the bobbin while the spindle and bobbin are rotated.